Thursday, August 23, 2012

Haven't we been here before?

Recently, Pirates fans have witnessed a 19-inning game, a Daniel McCutchen walkoff loss in extras and Andrew McCutchen go into a late-summer swoon. We've seen the starting pitching struggle, the bats fall silent and now the club is getting swept by bad teams. Sound familiar? It should. All of these things happened last year, too.

After being swept by the San Diego Padres, there was talk anew about whether this team actually had the staying power to compete for a playoff spot. Granted, the fall from grace last year was of epic proportions. A stretch of losing half that bad would be alarming. But even if this club doesn't falter as badly as that, it doesn't look good for their playoff chances. The latest Baseball Prospectus Playoff Odds Report has the Pirates playoff chances down to 27.8%. Their expected win percentage is down to .508.

Suddenly, the rhetoric from this club is changing. Rather than being sorely disappointed if they don't make the playoffs, there's already talk of being happy if they simply break the streak of 19-consecutive losing seasons. Expectations are changing quicker than a Justin Wilson big-league stint. John Perrotto recently asked Clint Hurdle if his team can still get to the postseason. Here was Hurdle's response:

"I have confidence in the men in our clubhouse," he said. "They've gotten this far and if you would have asked back in April if we would be happy with where we are now, the answer would have been yes."

Now, it's true that Hurdle's quote could be taken to mean the club is still fighting and that they are continuing to defy expectations, but this is coming from the mouth of the most over-the-top geyser of positive rhetoric in team history. Hurdle's primary function for this club has been as a motivator. There is rarely a hint of resignation in his voice. Until now. We can only hope that the players latch on to his more inspiring and helpful rhetoric from spring training:...finish.

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